Iran recruited fugitive Hell’s Angel for arson attack on German synagogue

Judges say Iran was behind 2022 plot to attack synagogue via middleman who lived in luxury

An arson plot against a German synagogue was ordered by the Iranian state in an “escalation” of its secret activities in Europe, a court has found.

Judges say a German-Iranian jailed over the ultimately aborted Molotov cocktail attack was put up to it by a fugitive Hell’s Angel passing on orders from Tehran.

The middleman, Ramin Yektaparast – who was wanted in connection with two shootings – asked a friend awed by his luxury lifestyle to attack a synagogue as a “favour”.

However, the intended arsonist, 36-year-old Babak J, got cold feet on the night of the attack and threw his weapon at a derelict school building.

Germany is considering its next steps after summoning Iran’s ambassador over the newly unsealed verdict.

Drawing on WhatsApp messages and taped phone calls, it says the 2022 plot was meant to create a “climate of insecurity” in line with Iran’s “anti-Semitic and anti-Israel policy”.

In clues to Iran’s involvement:

· The regime in Tehran appeared to have assisted Mr Yektaparast when he fled from Germany to Iran to avoid arrest

· Texts to Babak J pestering him for updates (“so that I don’t look a fool”) made clear that Mr Yektaparast was answering to superiors

· Babak J, 36, himself a regime loyalist, tried to recruit an accomplice by intimating he had well-placed friends in Iran

· Mr Yektaparast did not deny a regime link when challenged in a secretly recorded phone call with Babak J’s father

· Neither man had an obvious personal motive, whereas an attack ordered by Iran would fit with its “political orientation”. A shooting at a second German synagogue that evening also suggested a concerted plot

Babak J was jailed for two years and nine months over the plot in Bochum, western Germany, but judges are convinced the order ultimately came from “Iranian state agencies”.

German intelligence has repeatedly warned of secret Iranian activity targeting dissidents, Jewish people and perceived enemies abroad.

“Planning an arson attack does represent an escalation compared to previous espionage-focused activities,” the court ruling said.

“However, it is in line with the Iranian regime’s anti-Semitic and anti-Israel policy.”

Germany’s Foreign Ministry revealed on Wednesday it had summoned Iran’s ambassador for a second time in three months over the case.

“We will share the verdict immediately with our European partners and the European institutions, and will consider next steps,” it said.